Iraq’s Christian community — once numbering around 1.5 million but now estimated at fewer than 250,000 — is witnessing signs of new life as more than 1,000 boys and girls have received their first Communion in recent week

According to Catholic World Report, Chaldean parishes in Baghdad welcomed 50 children to the sacrament, while 32 took part at the city’s Syriac Catholic parish. Another 11 received Communion at the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Deliverance — the same church where dozens of worshippers and two priests were killed in a 2010 attack.

In Qaraqosh, under the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul, more than 460 children received their first Communion in three ceremonies.

Christianity has been present in Iraq for almost 2,000 years, but the community has suffered greatly in recent decades. The rise of the Islamic State in 2014 triggered widespread persecution, the destruction of churches and the mass displacement of believers — particularly from Mosul and the Nineveh Plains.

Most Christians who remain now live in the Kurdistan Region, mainly in Erbil and Dohuk, with smaller communities in Alqosh and Qaraqosh. The majority are Chaldean Catholics, alongside members of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Despite years of hardship, the sight of churches full of young worshippers is being seen as a sign of renewed faith and hope for Iraq’s ancient Christian heritage.